When The Battle's Lost And Won
by Miss Shannon
Summary: A series of one-shots detailing each character's thoughts in the immediate aftermath of the Last Battle. Starting with Harry and Snape, others will follow.  Deathly Hallows spoilers.
1. Harry Potter

**1. Harry Potter**

The quietness astounded him.

Although a battle in the wizarding world did not involve firearms or swords, the battle had been noisy and the agonized screams of the wounded had been ringing in his ears painfully. Now it was quiet and the piece of sky he could see from his vantage point was orange with the rising sun. Harry had slept deeply and had not been plagued by dreams. Neither the dead's unseeing eyes nor the rejoicing survivor's faces had followed him into his oblivion and he was more than grateful for it.

Harry sat up, feeling rested and reached for the plate that had been placed onto the bedside table while he had been asleep. A smile spread across his face as he held the sandwich between his hands, his stomach rumbling appreciatively.

How something as simple and meaningless as a sandwich managed to make him that happy, he did not know. He took the first bite slowly but then continued to chew through it like a starved wolf. When had he last eaten? He could not remember. The previous day had felt like weeks.

When he had finished his meal, he fell back into his pillows, the clean scent of the sheets in his nostrils and listened. The birds were singing again.

Even if the world had stopped while had been fighting Voldemort, everything was now in motion again and in front of him lay a future he could shape. He had been The Chosen One but now he was just Harry Potter, a young wizard who could decide for himself where he wanted to go and what he wanted to do with his life.

Harry smiled again although is joy was overshadowed by the feeling of grief that tugged at his heart. So many lives had been lost. So many good people had given their lives for the good of the wizarding world, to allow the survivors to live to see a beautiful dawn like this one.

He could become an auror and make sure that his remaining friends would always be safe, Harry thought. He had fought a war and defeated Voldemort, which had to count for something career-wise...

But did he want to subject himself to more heartache that would come with a job like that? Did he want to take the risk of having to see someone else die?

Harry was not sure what he wanted for his future. He was not sure what would happen now that the world had started to move on, now that the sun was shining again, the birds were singing and Hogwarts was slowly awakening to a new age.

He pulled his covers up towards his nose. He would not have to run today. There would be no enemies to be fought, no horcruxes to be destroyed, no important decision to be made and no problems to be solved.

He was here and all he wanted was to rest.

And it was a luxury he could afford while his future stretched out before him like a beautiful landscape, waiting to be explored.


	2. Severus Snape

**2. Severus Snape**

Argus Filch had to use all his strength to manage to crack open the shrieking shack's door and although he had seen so much death and destruction in the course of just a day, he gasped at the sight. The former potion's master and headmaster lay in a pool of blood that was glistening even in the dim light of the shack. He had died on his back, half propped up against the wall behind him, his eyes dull and black.

Filch walked closer to the corpse and even after burying so many of them today, had to remind himself that it was just a dead body. The skin was ice-cold to his touch and he found that he would not have imagined it to be any other way even when Severus Snape had been alive. He had been a cold man and even Filch had feared his vicious sneers and harsh words sometimes.

Carefully, he set down the gurney he had been wheeling after him and grabbed Snape's body by its shoulders. He had been prepared for its limpness and for the fact that its heels would be dragging across the dusty wooden floor panellings but it still sent a chill down his spine. Filch was neither very intelligent nor in any way intuitive but even he recognized it as fear of his own death. Mrs Norris who - as usual - had followed him rubbed her head against his leg to reassure him and her large eyes seemed to bore into his. Filch stripped the body to the gurney and adjusted the man's robes. Once they had been billowing behind him menacingly, now they hung limp and torn and soaked with blood.

When he propped the gurney up again, a small piece of paper fell from Snape's sleeve and sailed towards the ground.

Both curious and horrified, Filch bent down and picked it up. The parchment was old and yellowed and looked as if it had often been touched and held, maybe inclosed in a fist. He struggled to read it and furrowed his brow: _"could ever have been friends with Gellert Grindlewald. I think his mind is going, personally! Lots of love, Lily_".

Filch paused, unsure what to make of it. His dirty forefinger left a smudge of dust on the parchment as he ran it across the name and the word "love". Somehow even a man like Filch had enough sense to realize that this piece of paper must have meant the world to its owner. Had Severus Snape loved the woman who had written this? Filch looked at the agonized look on Snape's face but could not come up with an answer. Filch was not a man who was easily able to make sense of other people which was why he preferred his cat's company.

He stepped forwards, unwilling to touch the body again but then reached out for one lifeless arm dangling in midair and with some difficulty, pried its clutched fingers apart slightly. Carefully, he placed the piece of parchment inside and closed the fist again.

He looked at Snape's eyes. They had not changed a bit but somehow Filch felt that the corpse looked more peaceful now. He reached out for Mrs Norris and stroked her soft warm fur then wheeled the gurney out.


End file.
